The statistical information sought by the Deputy is not readily available. The most recent figures on attrition rates for third level education are the result of research carried out, at the request of my Department, by the Educational Research Centre, ERC, at St. Patrick's College Drumcondra, Dublin which published surveys of completion rates in undergraduate courses in the institutes of technology in 2000 and in the universities in 2001. In the case of the universities the average drop out rate was found to be 15% while in the case of the institutes of technology it was found to be 42%. It should be noted, however, that there were differences between fields of study in both surveys with the subject areas of computer science, engineering and science registering higher non-completion rates than the humanities and business studies. The Dublin Institute of Technology also conducted a similar study and shows an overall non-completion rate of 39.46% for the 1994 cohort of full-time first-year students.
A number of initiatives to tackle the issue of student retention is already being funded by my Department. In the case of the universities, the Higher Education Authority has allocated almost €1.95 million towards supporting a range of activities including the development of mentoring and study skills programmes, counselling services, information packs for new entrants, development of orientation programmes and life skills modules and the appointment of academic counsellors, access officers, school liaison officers and mature student officers.
Funding has been allocated as follows: